


Normalised Universal Constants

by antigrav_vector



Series: Bingo - Western AU [16]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 1872, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Secret Wars Battleworlds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Western, Cap_Ironman Bingo, Crossover, M/M, Multiverse, Stony Bingo, Stony Bingo 2016, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 13:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8534341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antigrav_vector/pseuds/antigrav_vector
Summary: Steve appears to pull Tony home. Tony makes a few discoveries in the aftermath.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A fill for the "With the power of HEART!" prompt on my bingo card. Betaed by the lovely [navaan](http://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan). <3

It was a shock to hear the commotion outside the remains of Senior's smithy the next morning. They'd been picking through the ruins, looking for usable salvage -- out here and in this time, even that was valuable -- when a strange sound somewhere between tearing fabric and running water seemed to wash over them.

A chorus of startled shouts had accompanied it.

"Junior," Carol's voice carried over the noise, "get out here!"

Tony had grinned. Odds were good that was his ticket home. He held out a hand to Senior. "It's been real. Take care of each other."

"You're not making any sense again, but I will," Senior riposted as he straightened and gestured for Tony to take the lead, getting a chuckle out of Tony.

Sure enough there was a portal hanging in the air about a foot off the ground and slightly taller than he was. It was opaque, and showed nothing of what left on the far side. It was also perpendicular to the ground, rather than horizontal, unlike the one that had dropped him here. Cap stood in front of it, facing off warily with Carol and Jan. Mrs. Barnes stood behind the other two ladies with her shotgun ready, though lowered, in a clear warning.

When Tony appeared, all of them relaxed. "Junior," Jan asked him, "you know this guy?"

"You could say that," Steve said wryly, his posture loosening even more when he saw that Tony was uninjured. Jan caught the change, and raised an eyebrow at Tony.

"Ready to go home, Stark?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Tony held up the suitcase suit. "Got all my luggage."

"Tony," she said, stepping in close to hug him and surprise the hell out of him, "remember what we talked about before my toast. You could probably benefit from it yourself."

Senior nodded in a way that clearly said he knew what had been discussed. He'd probably asked her. "Take care of each other," he said simply.

All Tony could do was nod dumbly. The implications of that...

He wasn't sure he wanted to think about it. He and Steve hadn't always been close, but they'd gotten there eventually. There was nothing more to it than that, though. Steve was straight. He'd proven that over and over with his liaisons. Not one of them had ever shown even the least _hint_ that she wasn't exactly what the package advertised. There was no way there was more there than simple friendship.

Cap turned to eye the portal behind him. "Come on, Tony," he prodded verbally, "before we're both stranded here."

"Get Urich to write something scathing about Fisk and Roxxon to Jameson," Tony instructed Carol, and took the step through the portal.

When his feet hit the ground on the other side, he staggered and nearly fell. By the time he'd caught his balance again, Cap stood in the center of the room and the portal was closed. With a glance around, he recognized the Baxter building.

Reed's head popped up from behind part of the machinery he'd used to build his portal thrower, and gave him an excited look. Tony just knew he wasn't going to get home for at least an hour; he knew that look. It was the expression Reed wore when he wanted information and would ignore any and all social cues thrown his way to get him to shut up.

Before Reed could start in on him, Cap stepped between them, effectively physically separating them and playing buffer. "Not right now, Reed," he said firmly. "We're both tired."

Tony knew that last statement was a dramatic exaggeration of the truth, but if it got him out of playing 50 questions, he wasn't going to protest.

Cap followed him silently back to the Tower, not replying to Tony's attempts to start a conversation with more than two to three words.

He didn't open up until they were safely in the penthouse living room, whereupon he stood awkwardly in the doorway and shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Tony?"

Tony threw himself onto his sofa and let out a content sigh. He'd missed being able to lie down without his neck and spine getting thrown out of joint. "Hmm?"

"What happened out there? Reed spent two weeks trying to get you back before he decided to try to use me as a focus."

Now _that_ was an interesting tidbit. "I'll tell you in a minute," Tony decided. "First tell me what you mean by that."

Steve shrugged. "Without someone with a strong connection to you, he couldn't find you. Reed got it narrowed down to about twelve options, but he wasn't sure his machine was robust enough to open twelve portals. One was safe enough but two was already pushing the safety limits."

"Why you and not Pepper?" Tony was pretty sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"He tried," Steve said simply, "it didn't work. We got down to three options with that."

Well shit.


End file.
